Dispatch and Guster team for more than good vibes

Double bill

Jed GottliebFriday, June 07, 2013

Credit: Unknown

Guster

Credit: Unknown

Dispatch

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They might not be the most obvious Massachusetts rock ’n’ roll tag team — that would be Dropkick Murphys and Mighty Mighty Bosstones — but Dispatch and Guster, at the Comcast Center tomorrow, have equally devoted followings.

Between the third wave ska and Celtic punk crazes, Dispatch and Guster boomed in Boston. But the two college-bred acts — Dispatch came out of Middlebury, Guster out of Tufts — have never shared a bill.

“By the time we were playing the Middle East, they were playing bigger places,” Dispatch’s Chad Stokes said. “By the time we caught up to them it was 2002.”

That was when Dispatch called it quits. The band has since regrouped and become bigger than ever (three sold-out TD Garden shows in 2011).

But still. The Dropkicks and Bosstones have played a score of shows together.

“I don’t know how it never happened,” Guster’s Adam Gardner said. “We’ve played with (Stokes’ band) State Radio, does that count?”

Not really. But that’s what will make the Comcast gig so special — the bands are only sharing three bills all summer.

Guster and Dispatch have followed similar lines to success. Neither play jam rock (Guster’s too clean, Dispatch too dirty), but they came up in that scene. Their late-’90s indie albums connected with a generation of young hippies looking for new music and a purpose.

“What’s great about us to­gether is that we’ve always championed social causes and they’ve pushed environmental causes,” Stokes said.

Stokes and his wife run Calling All Crows, a nonprofit that promotes marriage equality, increased access to education and global women’s rights. Gardner and his wife head Reverb, a nonprofit that helps make tours, record companies and radio stations environmentally friendly.

Both bands pioneered preshow service projects. Instead of getting loaded in the parking lot before concerts, fans often join band members cleaning parks, painting school rooms or planting crops at organic farms. All three Dispatch/Guster summer bills include projects that lead to meet-and-greets with the bands.

“Our passions are similar and our stories are similar,” Gardner said.

“Guster were very much role models for us,” Stokes said. “They showed us that a band could make the jump from playing dorm rooms to clubs independently and on its own terms.”

The groups head in different directions after the shows. Dispatch is finishing a long reunion tour and plans to take a break to work on solo projects for a year or two. Guster just finished writing­ sessions for an album that may come out by the end of the year. But everyone wants to find a way to connect in the future.

“We haven’t even done the shows yet and we already think more would be a good idea,” Gardner said.